Poetry Contest Saint Lucia 2026, English & Kwéyòl

Quick answer: Monthly poetry contest for Saint Lucian poets. Write in English or Kwéyòl, win cash prizes, earn certificates and a five part score on every poem you enter.

Saint Lucia gave world poetry Derek Walcott, who printed his first collection, 25 Poems, at eighteen with money his mother lent him, and went on to the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1992 on the strength of work crowned by Omeros. The square at the heart of Castries now carries his name, and every January Nobel Laureate Week honours him alongside Sir Arthur Lewis, both born on the island on a 23rd of January. Around that legacy runs a living scene: Kendel Hippolyte, Jane King, John Robert Lee, and Vladimir Lucien, whose Sounding Ground took the OCM Bocas Prize in 2015, while Kwéyòl verse and song stay alive in the La Rose and La Marguerite singing societies, and the language rings loudest each October around Jounen Kwéyòl.

Writory runs a monthly international poetry contest that reads Saint Lucian work exactly as it arrives, in English, Kwéyòl or French, with no translation required at any stage. Entries open on the 1st, close on the 25th and results are published on the 30th. Winners take cash prizes, every entrant collects a participation certificate, and each poem comes back with a score across creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme saved to the poet's profile. Poets from more than 50 countries have entered Writory, and a poem sent from Castries or Vieux Fort is read in exactly that company.

Writory holds a monthly international poetry contest that Saint Lucian poets can enter in English, Kwéyòl, French or any other language, with cash prizes for winners and a certificate for everyone who submits.

Why enter

English and Kwéyòl entries reach the same judges under the same five criteria, and neither ever needs a translation attached.
There is no set form, so a tight sonnet and a spoken word piece written out for the page are each read on their own terms.
Twelve separate contests a year, so missing the 25th one month costs you nothing more than a wait until the 1st.
Entry is open from age 13, putting students who first met Walcott in a school anthology and long practising poets in the same reading pile.
An island of under 200,000 people rarely gets a monthly route to an international readership, and this is one, with poets from more than 50 countries in the pool.

What winners and entrants receive

Cash prizes for the winning poems, announced on the 30th of the month you entered.
A participation certificate for every Saint Lucian entrant, placing or not.
Win a month and your next entry costs nothing, and the same applies after three months of entering in a row.
The top ten poets of the month are posted to the public leaderboard at writoryofficial.com/leaderboard.

Free verse, sonnets, spoken word pieces set down on the page, Kwéyòl verse, haiku and any other form are all accepted, in English, Kwéyòl, French or whichever language the poem arrived in.

Key facts

Entries open the 1st, close the 25th at 11:59 PM IST, results on the 30th.
One poem $5, two poems $8, five poems $15 (Rs 150 / Rs 220 / Rs 450 in India).
Every poem scored by human judges on five criteria: creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme.
A participation certificate for every entrant, not only winners, and the score is visible in your profile.
Cash prizes for winners, free entry the following month for winners, open worldwide from age 13, any language.

Questions

Can I enter a poem written in Kwéyòl?

Yes. Writory accepts poems in any language, so Kwéyòl, English, French and mixed language work are all valid entries, and you never need to supply a translation alongside them.

What will it cost me to submit from Saint Lucia?

Fees are charged in US dollars: $5 buys one poem, $8 buys two and $15 buys five, and the EC dollar's fixed peg keeps the sums predictable. Winners pay nothing the month after they win, and three consecutive months of entering also earns a free entry.

I perform my poems more than I publish them. Is that work eligible?

Yes, as long as you write the piece out and submit it as text. It is then scored the same way as every other entry, on creativity, emotion, structure, language and theme, with the five numbers saved to your profile.

How does a poem from a small island fare against entries from 50 countries?

Every poem is marked on the same five criteria regardless of where it comes from, so nothing about the size of your home scene follows the poem into judging. You can read your own scores in your Writory profile afterwards.

How long is the wait between submitting and finding out?

Submission runs from the 1st to the 25th and the announcement comes on the 30th, so a poem sent early in the month is settled before that month ends.

By the Writory editorial team. Updated July 2026.

Enter the August contest · International poetry contest · Past winners · Read the winning poems